what is clil?

We had to read two articles about CLIL for this week. We have been discussing about them in class and now we think that we have more clear what does  CLIL exactly mean: an educational approach where is used an additional language for the learning (and teaching of course) of both content and language.

After reading the article about CLIL, we want to emphasize different sentences mentioned:

- We should ask which method or combination of methods is best for which goals, which students and under which conditions.

- One of the most powerful resources is each other ( for example: when they are playing, working in groups...).

- If we want to improve the quality of teaching, the most effective place to do is in the context of a classroom lesson.

- Sharing ideas and expertise, providing moral support when dealing with new and difficult challenges, discussing complex individual cases together (the basis for professional communities).

We also had read another article about CLIL, exactly a CLIL project developed in Preschool in Catalonia. This is not only a CLIL example, it is also an interdisciplinary working way example (where teachers are coordinate, contents have connections...). We would like to mention some ideas that we think are important:

- When proposing activities it is essential to bear in mind the idea of a Preschool teacher creating materials for Preschool children and leaving apart the point of view of a specialist teacher (Englis, Primary...teacher).

- We liked that in each Didactic Unit had these features: stories, oral activities (being in touch with the language in a natural way), different types of grouping (individually, in pairs, in groups, whole group)...

- It is important also to use different material such as: DVDs, songs, Internet files, books, power points...

On the other hand, we have to say that we didn´t particularly like the topics of the project: means of transport and community workers, dinosaurus, eating healthy, feeling, wild animals and "I´m different". In our opinion, they are not based on children´s interests, and they should be based on these.